Continuation of School Shelter Project Photos

 

It has been a busy time with teams, clinics, medical cases and lots of improvements being made to the grounds. Now I have time to return to the blog and start where I left off. I am looking forward to posting the photos of what has been going on here at Coram Deo. The last photos I put were of Jeff and Nathan building a school shelter along the front wall. Pastor Pierre enthusiastically helped with laying the tin.

With the 2 tin layers feet showing, Jeff and Nathan started working on the walls.

It didn't take long for the sheets of plywood to be cut and screwed into place.

A work in progress shot.

I like the characters we have painted on the wall. Jeff gets a thumbs up for all his work!

The shelter is taking shape.

We ordered the sand and gravel to prepare for the cement work, which was the 2nd part of the project.

Lucky enjoys all that sand! Great to dig in :)

Almost done.

The shelter is finished in one day!

There was still a couple of hours left and phase 2 of the project began. The guys busily hauled gravel to form the floor of the school shelter.

There is lots of room for this classroom.

The guys shoveled up a storm and the dust was flying as they raced to get everything done!

Jeff graded the gravel with the rake.

A medical team of Jim Hambricks' spent the day seeing patients and when Jim returned later in the day he was shocked to see the shelter already done ;)

Some of the medical team posed for a photo in front of the new school shelter.

The younger children made a crowd watching the work and the visitors.

Here they are looking at some photos that a visitor from Jim's team took.

The clinic was over and the team piled into Jim's van for the short drive to the old Notre Maison building now called Until The Whole World Knows Ministry Center!

Jeff and Pastor Pierre made quick work of laying down the cement.

Sherri of Christian Light Mission lent us her cement mixer. It sure came in handy. The guys were able to work quickly at forming the floor.

Pastor Pierre had no trouble keeping up the pace with Jeff. They are both hard workers.

Here is everyone admiring the mixers' work :)

It didn't take long to pour the floor.

Amos wanted to show off his mixer steering skills! He was kept busy running around for the supplies.

Almost done.

Some time left to work on the generator changing the filters.

A rooftop view of the new school shelter. It blends in well along the front wall.

Next step was to prepare this front section of the yard for a cement pour.

School Shelter Project

 

We had a busy January with teams coming to help achieve our vision here on the grounds at Coram Deo. The first team that came was led by my cousing Jeff Bultje and Nathan Wiersma. Before their arrival the guys did some ground preparation and moved the sand pile from our last project away from the front wall.

They also used their muscles and rolled these large boulders from the front of the yard to the back section of the yard.

We are trying to maximize the use of the yard. This front yard will support our last school shelter that needs to be built. We got Ysmaille and his workers to weld the shelter supports and frame so that everything would be ready for the team's arrival.

Jeff and Nathan spent the night at the airport and arrived in Port-au-Prince on the first morning flight. We spent the first day buying the wood and tin materials and getting the guys to cement the supports in place.

Jeff made sure that the steel support frames were placed correctly.

It didn't take too long for the supports to be cemented and bolted in place.

 

Nathan has good balance atop the wall supports :)

Jeff made sure everything was level.

The next morning Jeff and Nathan were on a mission to get the school shelter built in one day!

The roof framing is beginning!

Ysmaille and his workers continued with their welding while Jeff, Nathan and Pastor Pierre started putting the frame together.

This was the first time we had 2 clinics going on at once plus a building project. Jim Hambrick of Until The Whole World Know brought over a medical team. Our whole house was a clinic that day! Ed Amos did his dental clinic that day as well. Here Jeff and Nathan are meeting one of the visitors.

 

The metal work and the framing went together well.

We ended up making this last school shelter wider than the others, making use of the empty space along the front wall.

It was fun watching the building and the clinics going on at the same time!

It sure does help having skilled tradesman leading the building teams :)

Jeff and Nathan rapidly laid the 2x4's in place.

Here are a few of Ysmailles' workers cutting and measuring the steel that is used for the shelter wall frames.

 

The morning was spent constructing the wood frame for the roof.

Jeff made sure the measurements were correct.

Sony came by to lend a hand.

Pastor Pierre had 2 roles that morning. Being a carpenter and also evangelizing! Here he is heading back to the work area after speaking with the patients awaiting to see a doctor.

The metal wall frames are almost finished.

Here is Pastor Pierre starting to lay the tin. The tin work was done in the afternoon.

 

Jeff is checking the metal frame to make sure they are the correct measurements for the plywood walls.

A view from a distance of all the workers involved in building the school shelter.

Pastor Pierre is blessed with a lot of energy. He is a hard worker.

Because the shelter is wider the workers had to make a couple of adjustments.

A view of the roof frame.

A team-work photo! Pastor Pierre, Sony and Nathan. The roof is almost done!